Virginia Governor’s Election Cheat Sheet

So here’s my theory on what it takes to win a statewide election in Virginia:

• If you are a Republican, talk like a Democrat.
• If you are a Democrat, talk like a Republican.
• Embrace the Gun.
• Make sure the President is in the other party. Virginians like balance.

Been tracking Governor’s Race stories for the past couple of months now. This page has become really, really busy with way too many headache inducing links, but it is pretty darn thorough featuring up-to-the minute polls, debate recaps, issue comparisons, and all the big stories.

For the 1-10% of you that are still undecided, here is a Cliffs Notes version featuring the five essential links for this election:

1. Start with RGL (haha) but hone in on the issues column (middle/second). Pick the top 3 issues that are important to you. Read the official candidate positions and any related newspaper profiles.
2. Style Weekly’s 17 Questions asked the conventional ones but threw some curveballs. Editor Jason Roop got some interesting off-script answers from both guys.
3. The Times Dispatch’s Portrait of the Politicians as Young Men: Creigh Deeds | Bob McDonnell I personally love back story.
4. Virginian Pilot’s Issues Video Series: The style of these videos remind me of the I’m a Mac, I’m a PC commercials. So which one is the PC?
5. Bob McDonnell’s 1989 Regent University Thesis (broke here)– This story dominated the middle part of this race. For better or for worse, Deeds used the thesis as the centerpiece of his advertising campaign. In fairness, this backwards ass paper did briefly sidetrack McDonnell giving Republicans chest pain when it broke, but in the end, the controversy was presumably just a road bump.

On Election Day

As for Election Day Coverage, here are my picks on who to follow:

1. Start with RGL’s Twitter List (haha).  This Twitter aggregator follows every single candidate of every single election in Virginia.  In addition, bloggers, journalists, and political organizations round up the feed.  Both parties are represented from each wing (the whole bird).  For breaking news, it doesn’t get any better than Twitter.
2. Washington Post’s Virginia Politics Blog.  It’s been the gold standard for Virginia political coverage this year.  If you think about it, the Washington Post has been the third biggest player of this election (Thesis, Obama leak/first pre-mortem, etc)
3. Ryan Nobles is the best political television journalist in Virginia.  His work has exceeded most state newspapers.  Read his blog Decision Virginia and follow the live chat on NBC12.
4. Bob Holsworth and Larry Sabato. They will break it down, for real.
5. Poltico’s Virginia Page. They will break it down from a national perspective.